Victorian women and girls march forward in community sport

As International Women’s Day is marked worldwide on 8 March, women and girls across Victoria continue to be supported to level the playing field in community sport and active recreation.

The International Women’s Day theme for 2025, March Forward, draws relevance to the community sport sector and its call for decisive action to address systemic inequality.

Members of Birralee Gymnastics team at Robson Stadium, Wallan

Director of Australia’s only dedicated Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, Sarah Styles, acknowledged this theme.

'March Forward is all about action. Not talk, but action. That embodies what we are supported to continue to do here at the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation. Today, we celebrate the progress made towards gender equality in sport, but we also recognise the work still needed to achieve a level playing field for women and girls.'

Through the Office and Sport & Recreation Victoria, the Victorian Government is committed to advancing gender equality in sport and active recreation, with a range of initiatives and programs being delivered to ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to participate in community sport and active recreation in ways that suit them.

The Office for Women in Sport and Recreation has provided more than $2.9 million to over 580 community clubs to encourage women and girls to participation in sport since 2018.

This is part of the Victorian Government’s $18 million investment into the Office and the Change Our Game initiative, including the game-changing Fair Access Policy Roadmap that has supported every local council in the state to adopt gender equitable access and use policies for community sport for the first time.

Over the past decade, Sport & Recreation Victoria has invested almost $74 million in over 240 female friendly community sport and active recreation infrastructure projects to develop new and improved sports facilities that enable, facilitate, and retain participation by women and girls.

In the last 2 years, these infrastructure projects have supported more than 111,000 women and girls to participate in sport and active recreation.

Sarah said fair access to facilities is a basic requirement for participants at all levels of sport and that’s why these projects are so important.

'The benefits of participation in sport are endless and these infrastructure projects, supported by the Fair Access Policy Roadmap are paving the way for more women and girls to play the sport they love.'

In addition, more than 80,500 vouchers have been provided to Victorian girls through the Get Active Kids Voucher Program, with more than half of families reporting their children would not have been able to participate in sport without that support.

The importance of community sport in the prevention of gender-based violence is also acknowledged through 12 partnership projects that address the gendered drivers of violence across a range of community sport settings.

Between 2022-24, the projects reached more than 13,500 people and 167 clubs and helped build sector understanding and awareness of gender-based violence and prevention.

For more information about the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation and the Change Our Game programs visit the Change Our Game website.